If you need help remembering some of the jargon, you can head to the last part and brush up. New tech speak is popping up all the time, so let’s take a quick look at two of the concepts from the part we just read.

M-Sink:

The M-Sink is a highly confidential weapon that opens a portable black hole and breaks down whatever is targeted in order to hold it within a vacuum. This is how Troblum’s machine was destroyed by The Delivery Man.

Multiples:

Mr Bovey is a human who has divided his personality into multiple versions of himself. They aren’t clones, as they each look different, but their minds are linked up as one. He uses this to his advantage – running his business with no need for employees and then there’s the orgies…

Inigo’s Fifth Dream:

We start, as last time, by seeing within Inigo’s dreams and get to see how Edeard is getting on with his new life in Makkathran. Here we get a closer look at his new friends and squad mates, Macsen, Dinlay, Boyd and Kanseen. Only Kanseen is female, all are human and together they walk the city in the hop of preventing crime. Out on patrol Edeard uses his Ge-Eagle to scope the city streets which helps develop tactics in pursuing people. It isn’t long before a thief steals from a nearby cart and Edeard and his group give chase. Along the way we see how he uses the Ge-Eagle to help in his task and we also meet Mistress Florell, a snooty old lady who believes she is owed the world and its respect. Due to this hold up, the thieves get away on a boat and Edeard has to resort to using his third hand to take back the goods from the thieves. It’s quite clear that the people of Makkathran have no respect or love for the constables.

* * *

CHAPTER 6

We’re in for a long haul chapter here as many of the plot points begin to fall into place. We’re back on High Angel with Qatux, Aaron and Corrie-Lyn. Some backstory to the Raiel is given via a search by Aaron who figures that Qatux would help them because of his unusual bond with humans. He helps them purely because the human he loved, Tiger Pansy, was murdered by The Cat. After absorbing Inigo’s memory cell, he reveals that Inigo would be on his home world of Hanko.

Here we switch back to Araminta, who seems to be growing into quite a presence in the book. This brief scene sets up a relationship between her and a man called Likan who is well known and has contacts and advice for her business. He shows a keen interest in her, both for business and pleasure by out rightly inviting her to his house for a weekend of sex with him and the women who live with him.

Meanwhile, Paula Myo has arrived on High Angel to meet with Qatux as their paths crossed long ago. They discuss the Void and Inigo’s whereabouts. After finding out where he is, she contacts Kazimir to update him on proceedings. Of course Aaron and Corrie-Lyn have a head start on Paula and they land on Hanko to be welcomed by Director Purillar. He’s in charge of overseeing a project on Hanko. The planet was decimated during the Starflyer war, it’s his team’s job to find the bodies of the dead and extract their memory cells in order to relief them elsewhere. Under the guise of a spurned lover, Corrie-Lyn pleads with Purillar to allow her and Aaron to search for the man who left her. She knows in her heart that Inigo is there somewhere and after searching the base, all that’s left is an outpost that they must get to in a ground crawler which takes several days.

A new character is entering the lexicon, by the name of Oscar. He’s new to some, others know him as a man integral in the Starflyer war, a man who stood for good as part of the navy but was jailed for killing. After over a thousand years banished on Far Away, he is approached by Paula Myo. She wants to use his skills to track down the Second Dreamer.

Back to Araminta and she has opted to take time away from Mr Bovey and spend it with Likan and his “harem of women”. It’s clear that they’re destined for nothing more than idle chat about business ideas and copious amounts of sex. Before conducting in the latter, Likan shares a program with Araminta that allows her deeper access to her own thoughts, which of course, enhances the sex they have throughout the night as she joins in another orgy.

A skylord is seen gliding above a solid planet, with energy swirling around it. As it hovers there, it begins to gather the energy into itself and starts to lower down into the atmosphere of the planet. At this exact moment, Conservator Ethan is going to attempt to talk to the Second Dreamer. He has waited for this moment since finding out that the dreamer only dreams after orgasm. Ethan attempts to talk with the dreamer through the Skylord and here’s the message “No! I am me!”…

Araminta wakes with a gasp, surrounded by the naked bodies of those she has slept with. She thinks on this dream she had of a celestial being hovering over a planet and how she felt suffocated by the sudden presence of a second person in the dream. Lying there she reflects on the night before and the orgy she took part in. Noticing that Likan was worshipped by the women around him as they did everything he wanted, Araminta believes that he has brain washed the harem and she is next. Leaving in a fit of anger, she travels home.

Oscar has been given a starship by Paula Myo and ANA to aid his task in finding the Second Dreamer. He admits that he needs external help, but won’t divulge information to Paula, he only asks for trust. He returns to the place where he had a hand in the Starflyer war, where he killed and died before being imprisoned. He knows that he must deliver a passcode to someone on this planet if he should ever be in need of help. Once the code is delivered he is approached by a man claiming to be part of a group called The Knights Guardian. This man, Tomansio, agrees to help Oscar in whichever way he chooses as the group see Oscar as a legend, but suspicion isn’t far away as they reveal that they also worship The Cat.

The chapter comes to a close as Araminta meets with Cressida for drinks in a bar. Surrounded by Living Dream pilgrims, they discuss the weekend with Likan. During the conversation she mentions her strange dream, to which Cressida states that everyone had that dream. It was the Second Dreamer projecting into the Gaiafield. Of course, Araminta is shocked at this, she doesn’t have Gaiamotes installed and how could this be? Cressida explains how her family were befriended by a race called the Silfen who travel between worlds via tunnels like wormholes, but this friendship also allows her to be a part of their communal mind. This is the explanation we get as to why she saw the dream with everyone else.

BUT IS THAT THE TRUTH? AND WHO ARE THE KNIGHTS GUARDIAN? WILL AARON AND CORRIE-LYN FIND INIGO ON THE PLANET HANKO? We’ll only find out by reading the remaining pages of the book and reaching the end of The Dreaming Void. Next week we’ll discuss the final moments and then we’ll be hefting The Temporal Void off the shelf to continue this brilliant space opera.

I hope you are all enjoying the readalong, please feel free to comment below – let us know who you like and hate, who do you trust? What will happen with Edeard?